Thrown out

AP/Wilfredo Lee

Thrown out Judge Robert Paul Kaye, center, listens to attorney Dan Webb, left, representing the tobacco industry and Stanley Rosenblatt, right, attorney for the Florida smokers during a sidebar Dec. 2, 1999 in the Florida tobacco trial at the Miami-Dade County Court in Miami. A Florida appeals court threw out a record-shattering $145 billion verdict won by thousands of Florida smokers against the tobacco industry, saying the case should not have been tried as a class-action lawsuit.

Thrown out Judge Robert Paul Kaye, center, listens to attorney Dan Webb, left, representing the tobacco industry and Stanley Rosenblatt, right, attorney for the Florida smokers during a sidebar Dec. 2, 1999 in the Florida tobacco trial at the Miami-Dade County Court in Miami. A Florida appeals court threw out a record-shattering $145 billion verdict won by thousands of Florida smokers against the tobacco industry, saying the case should not have been tried as a class-action lawsuit. (AP/Wilfredo Lee)

Thrown out Judge Robert Paul Kaye, center, listens to attorney Dan Webb, left, representing the tobacco industry and Stanley Rosenblatt, right, attorney for the Florida smokers during a sidebar Dec. 2, 1999 in the Florida tobacco trial at the Miami-Dade County Court in Miami. A Florida appeals court threw out a record-shattering $145 billion verdict won by thousands of Florida smokers against the tobacco industry, saying the case should not have been tried as a class-action lawsuit.